1. Field
The field of the invention relates to verifying electronic transactions, and more specifically, to authenticating physical address submitted in an online communication.
2. Background
Institutions, such as banks, eMerchants, insurance companies, and government agencies, increasingly offer online transactions to their customers. Customers like the convenience and choices offered by the online transactions, and the institutions like the simplified transactions and/or increased revenues. Online transactions often require a new customer to apply for enrollment which may include applying for a credit card or deposit account, for example. To apply for the enrollment, an online applicant typically transmits his or her personal information such as name, address, social security number, date of birth, and the like via the Internet. With the rise of the online transactions, however, there is a growing concern regarding fraud. Identity thieves can steal or otherwise gain access to personal information of a victim and use the information to fraudulently obtain an enrollment in a membership, e.g., a credit card account, under the victim's name. With widespread technologies, a victim can fall prey to fraudsters operating anywhere in the country or even anywhere in the world who can obtain the personal information of the victim.
Accordingly, a reliable electronic transaction verification scheme that can reduce or deter such Internet-based fraud is desirable.